03 May 2006

[design] Redesigning Cherriots: Part 4, Putting Some of the Pieces Together

The developement of the Cherriots System Map continues apace. To see what I've got going so far, I'm putting some of the individual toys I've been playing with together to get some sort of idea of what direction I'm going in. So, making sure that all the basic route alignments are in place, I turn on the layer with the route number icons, nudge all those into position where I want them, and here's what I have:

Click on the map to see it bigly. There's not much to say about the changes themselves that I've already said, but I do think I'm not being presumptuous to say that the polish of the map has much improved. There was a cöordinated strategy of improving readability and informational content that is starting to pay off. I'm so far rather pleased with the improvement work thus done.

To give an even clearer idea of how far I've brought the design, let's do a little side-by-side, before and after, hot map-on-map action:

The downtown area looks a whole lot better: I was bothered by the disorganized feel of the original. I simply like the look of the new route numbers. The street labels are still not there, but we'll be moving on to that very soon now. The river's route through the map adds both interest and information in a two-for-one deal. And, not least, the insistence of accuracy adds a certain perception of attention to detail that comes through to the viewer.

2 comments:

Alan DeWitt
said...

If I may make a suggestion, you might want to do something slightly different with the I-5/99E/22 lines. They help make it more useful as a general-purpose map, but to my eye they look like bus routes at first glance. I suppose it's because they are the only thing besides routes that are in color. (Well, okay... the river is in color too. But it looks very different from a bus route.) Maybe change the green line on those to a grey line, retaining the black border? Not sure.

Your point was very well taken. I already got a look at it a few hours ago when I was in a place I couldn't respond so I was able to turn it over in my mind and I see what you're getting at.

Having the expressways/freeways in color could take them, visually speaking, out of the class of the supporting road network and nudge them toward that of the route symbols. Your proposed solution is a doable one, and I'll implement that and see how it looks and then post that for all to see.

Don't worry if it doesn't show up right away; I'm working like a cartoonist on this one, in particular, I'm a few versions ahead of the point I'm actually displaying. Fortunatel Adobe Version Cue makes it relatively simple to go back to an earlier version and make a change or change it on the current version and save what I was already doing as a former version.

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This Here Blogger

Graphic designer, writer, editor. Worker in the Big Machine; the quintessential working-class native Oregonian, I drive some of the grimier gears so the Big Cats and Kittens don't have to. Am in the process of reinventing myself as the artist I always ought to have been. My blog is The ZehnKatzen Times.

This sentence, courtesy of commenter "JD", will help you remember the initials in order:All Across Portland Our Streets Wind Around Mossy Yards. Traffic Snarls May Mean Jammed Cars, Cranky Motorists Making Minimal Headway. Harried Commuters Just Love Going Slow.

Commenter Dave DiNucci, using enough of the letters from each word to eliminate ambiguity, gives us the following two possiblilities: This first one plays on the fact that alphabetically-arranged streets going north from Burnside are named for Portland founders while those going south do not:ANcestors ASsociated Portland Oregon STreets With ALphabetic MORtals, Yet Toward SAlem, MAInly MADe JEjune, COLUmnar, CLiche MARked MIxtures. MONotones HARmonize HALfway, COLLiding JAuntily. Lines Gently SHim.

This second one is more poetic but less PDX-centered, but works the Gorge in, as well as Lincoln, Grant, and Sheridan: